How SGS addresses trapped cash

Kelvin Hayes, Singapore-based deputy group treasurer at SGS, explains the inner workings of the Swiss inspection, verification, testing and certification company’s in-house bank and the issues it faces with trapped cash in Asia.

SGS operates an in-house bank model though one which is also fairly unique in that we have outsourced the front-, back- and middle-office functions to a third-party provider, Treasury Management Systems TMS in Neuchatel, Switzerland. In order for our treasury team to focus on higher value adding activities, we decided that the leg work involved in executing, reporting and confirming treasury deals would be best done by a specialist provider who had...